At Poplar Place, the intermediate and prelim cross country rode pretty slow with a lot of riders taking their time, with the footing on the hilly course described as deep, wet, and frozen. Poplar Place's resident trainer Werner Geven and Tommy Two won the intermediate after moving from third to first with 8 time penalties. 3 out of 8 starters did not complete the intermediate XC, and two of the finishers had over 20 time penalties. Overnight leader Becky Holder did not finish due to a rider fall, but we hear that both horse and rider are fine. In the open intermediate/prelim, Elizabeth Barron and The Graduate needed all of their 16 point lead to stay ahead of Imogen de lavis and Brisco Bay, who posted the only double clear of the division. Abigail Lee and No Questions won the open prelim with just two time penalties, finishing on 37.8.
At sporting days, Ashley Adams scored an impressive 31.6 on Vaunted in the advanced combined test. Everyone has undoubtedly noticed Ashley's name coming up lately because she has been doing some work for the HRN and EventingUSA. Interestingly, Ashley scored .4 higher with a 32 after the dressage in the intermediate combined test. Erin Renfroe and DeCordova won the intermediate/prelim with a double clear and finished on a 29.6. Sarah Cousins and Maggie Sharp won prelim A & prelim B respectively.
Notes: The AIken eventing season really begins this week. From now until the end of spring there will be an event within an hour of Aiken basically every single weekend, which is one reason eventers like Aiken so much. The Sporting Days entry list has some good names on it, including Boyd, Jan, Tara Ziegler, Molly Bull, Jennie, and former *two time Olympian Julie Richards. Bonus points to anyone who can name *both Olympics.
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Two Olympics actually- Julie rode as an individual at Sydney and on team at Athens